In general, in the washing machines, there are pulsator type washing machines each having an upright drum and drum type washing machines each having a drum laid down in a horizontal direction.
As described, since the drum type washing machine has the drum laid down in a horizontal direction, the drum type washing machine washes laundry introduced to the drum by dropping the laundry.
FIGS. 1 and 2 each illustrates a related art drum type washing machine, schematically.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the related art drum type washing machine is provided with a body 10, a tub 20 in the body 10, a drum 30 rotatably mounted in the tub 20, and driving means for driving the drum 30.
The body 10 has a laundry opening 11 in a front for introduction of the laundry, with a door 40 on the laundry opening 11 for opening/closing the laundry opening.
Together with this, there is a gasket 50 on an inside circumference of the laundry opening 11 for sealing a gap between the door 40 and the laundry opening 11.
The tub 20 is provided with dampers 21 on a lower side of an outside circumference for being supported within the body 10.
The driving means is provided with a driving motor 71 for driving the drum 30, and a belt 72 for transmission of driving power from the driving motor 71 to the drum 30.
However, the related art washing machine has a problem in that, even if a small amount of laundry and laundry with a low extent of dirt is washed, not only an un-necessary large amount of washing water, but also an unnecessary large amount of power is consumed because the washing process is substantially identical to a general washing process.
Particularly, though soaking of the laundry before the washing is effective for washing, the soaking has been omitted in general washing due to a large amount of washing water consumption, leading to fail to obtain the best washing performance.
Moreover, in the related art washing process, there is no step for sterilizing the laundry.
Of course, as shown in the attached drawing, recently, though there are washing machines each having a heater 60 in the tub 20 for heating the washing water to make boiled washing available, the washing machines each having a heater 60 are failed to attract much interest of the consumers due to large amount of washing water, and power consumption for boiling that is only means for sterilizing the laundry.
Accordingly, recently, a new washing machine is under development; which sprays a high temperature steam into the drum in the washing machine, for improving a washing performance and providing a sterilizing function even with small amounts of washing water and power consumption.
However, if something in a steam generator which is to generate and spray the steam or in other units which supply the washing water to the drum becomes out of order, the related art washing machine having a steam spray function is liable to cause damage to the unit that becomes out of order or units related thereto, or to the laundry by the spraying high temperature steam to stop the washing and impair safety.